Out Of The Wild
by Cave Hermit
Summary: The Champion and Savior of the Kalos region has been missing for five years and no one know what has happened to the young Pokemon Trainer. They had searched for him but no evidence of his whereabouts has ever turned up and had given up. Now a familiar teenager is making waves but who he is and where he came from is unknown.


The sun shone a brilliant gold as its bright rays beat down on the rocky outcropping below. What was once a peacfull feild filled with swaying emerald stalks of long grass and great stocky boulders was now in ruins. Now dry dirt lay where once green grass stood, what was left of it a unhealthy shade in shoddy patches of brown and the boulders scorched black or blown to tiny chunks of rock.

It was a miniature wasteland, the disastrous environment went on for over a mile in radius and all Pokemon that would usually occupy this area of wilderness were absent. A roar ruptured the silence of the wasteland and shook the earth with a violent tremor and was answered in kind with one of equal power and ferocity. The earth again shook as an explosion spread the area in black smog and fire as a battle took place in the center of the ruined lands.

A Garchomp stood its ground, body covered in deep lacerations and burns, as it faced against a Tyrantrum that showed to be in a similar conditions with deep bruising and dents in its thick red hide. Though the two titans were both injured in ways that would cripple normal Pokemon they both stood tall and proud, their will never waning or yielding to budge an inch from this challenge. The Garchomp gave a dangerous, low hiss from her maw and the living fossil before her gave a deep rumble in kind.

The tendons in their legs tightened, muscles flexing and ready to lung for another clash when a young voice cut through the air, "Enough."

The two monstrous Pokemon relaxed and glanced toward the sound of their trainer, "You both did great."

Both Pokemon's eyes twinkled happily at their normally silent trainer's praise and the two lumbered toward the young man standing on the sidelines. The young man gave a soft pat against their rough scales, "Both of you go back to camp and take a long rest. I'll be back and mend your wounds when I come back." They gave a nod and turned away but the boy held onto the Garchomp's arm to keep her from moving while the Tyrantrum continued on not noticing.

"Angie, make sure Ty doesn't get into the food again," he whispered into her ear. She gave a annoyed huff but nodded and tailed behind Ty's massive form.

Scratching at his ratty head of hair, the boy looked over toward a large pile of rubble and sighed, "Come out Azure."

Nothing moved or made a noise, "Come on Azure I know your there."

It took a few more seconds before a blue canine walked out from behind the pile of rocks and slowly made its way to the trainer before stopping in front of him, head hung low. "What have I told you about leaving camp?"

The Lucario kept her head hung low, rubbing her shoulder awkwardly with a spiky paw in slight embarrassment, "You can't be running around while your still recovering, what if I didn't notice you while Angie and Ty were training and they accidentally crushed you?"

She shrugged her shoulders slightly at that. Crossing his arms he glared down at Azure with a strict gaze, making her fidget uncomfortably. This continued for a few seconds longer till he deflated with a tired sigh, "What am I gunna do with you?" A thought struck him, "Hey, wasn't Rouge suppose to keep an eye on you?"

As if to answer his question he felt a displacement in the air around him where a Delphox popped into existence next to him via Teleport. The psychic/fire type glared down at Azure before starting to chatter angrily at the blue dog in a scolding tone. The trainer watched silently as his starter continued to scold the young Lucario before sighing and he smiled when she sounded a lot like 'what am I going to do with you' when she was done.

Seeing her dismay he decided to go easy on Azure for this one time. Since she injured her leg from training she had been stuck at camp for the past week while the others got to continue training without her so he couldn't really blame her for wanting to walk around. He'd probably get a little stir crazy too from doing nothing for days on end.

"It's fine for now but let me know when you want to take a stroll so I at least know where you are," Calem said kindly. Azure sprung up and gave a happy cry before giving him a quick hug, careful from stabbing him with the spike in her chest. Rouge looked at her trainer incredulously, before rolling her eyes and readying her wood carved wand to teleport away.

"Hold on Rouge, can you take Azure back with you?" Giving a cry, Azure rapidly shook her head 'no', not wanting to go back and sit around doing nothing all over again. "Can your leg handle keeping up with me?" She quickly nodded her head, "Well, alright, but I want you to go back as soon as it acts up again."

With that, Rouge rolled her eyes again and teleported back, tired from chasing and looking for the Lucario all day and leaving them both so the trainer could go and look for the rest of his team.

* * *

After spending the rest of the afternoon wrangling up his team and bringing them back to camp they all lay tiredly under the dense foliage of the lush forest east from the wasteland made from years of training. Calem looked out at his team, all of which were now snoozing away after a big meal and another long day of training. This was one of those moments when he couldn't help but reflect on how he met them all as he gazed at all their peaceful faces.

There was Rouge, his fiery starter which he first met when she was a Fennekin. She was somewhat of a rarity for her kind since there wasn't many females born, something he read in the Pokedex, and the majority of the species were male. She was a very proud Pokemon, proud of her power but even more proud of her silky, shining fur.

Getting her to fight was a nightmare since she was so afraid to damage its pristine condition and wouldn't listen to commands that would get her filthy. They came to an agreement though, that they would focus on making her fast so she couldn't be touched or dirtied and could deal damage and escape before their opponent knew what hit them. This only got better when she came in touch with her psychic abilities.

Next was his Blastoise, Rift, the walking bomb shelter. He got him from the Professor in Lumoise City when they talked about mega evoulutions and gave him the gem used for it, though at the time Calem didn't know how to use it. Rift was a great addition to the team and was a breath of fresh air since it was only him and Rouge against the elements. The turtle was a cocky Squirtle, head always held high in over-confidence and believing himself to be invincible to the Pokemon we fought. Rouge had had enough and they both ended up fighting, Rift had won with the type advantage and his head only seemed to swell more and began ignoring orders.

That was when Calem had drew the line and began asking other trainers if they had powerful grass types and asked them a favor to help him put his Squirtle in place. The nurse at the Pokemon Center agreed and gladly helped. Rift didn't have a chance and Calem refused to help him by giving commands and the two had a long talk afterwards. He evolved to become a very humble Blastoise, not only that but the turtle could take massive damage and could return it nearly twofold. He was a valuable addition to the team.

Calem suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck and a tingle run down his spine.

"That doesn't work anymore Vlad," Calem said with a shake of his head. Seconds after saying this a Gengar materialized from the shadows being cast by the flickering flames of their fire. The ghost Pokemon gave a sinister giggle before floating off into nowhere, "You can eat my dreams but wait till I fall asleep." A giggle was Calem's answer and he shook his head with a smile.

Vlad was caught when he was only a Ghastly when Calem traveled through the caves to reach Cyllage City. It was an accident really, Calem had threw a Duskball he had found in panic when a floating face with sharp canines filled his vision. Vlad was actually kind enough for a ghost Pokemon but was very...odd. He would skulk around whenever he was released and would stare at people for long periods of time for no reason. A woman even went catatonic when Calem let the floating apparition walk with him through the city. Calem was looking at the map so he didn't see what happened but learned to keep an eye on the ghost always and never let Vlad wander off. It also gave him the creeps when he read on the Pokedex that he sustained himself by eating dreams.

Vlad was also very mischievous, on and off the battle field. He would randomly jump out of shadows and scare Rift, Rouge and Calem along with stealing food and poking people and Pokemon before disappearing. This was all fine with Calem since it was such little things but then Vlad made everyone's food disappear in a Pokemon Center food court and dropped it all from the ceiling before laughing like a psychotic murderer. Calem was the only occupant that night.

In a fight the Pokemon was practically untouchable with his natural ability to become intangible on command and held wicked power in his abilities after fine tuning them with training. He was quite the little trickster.

A loud snore vibrated the ground and Calem smiled as he leaned back against the living fossil making the noise and patted the Tyrantrum on the snout. Ty was found soon after obtaining Vlad. That was of course after the Tyrantrum was revived from his fossil state into a little, black Tyrunt. When the Pokemon was reborn he was very clingy and affectionate, and would never leave his side longer than a few seconds. He was also very playful and nipped at Calem's legs whenever he wanted to play. Calem almost didn't use him in battles until the Tyrunt ran head first into the field to face a trainer's Pokemon before Calem could release Rift. It turned out Calem had noting to worry about because Ty was a brutal fighter and could beat opponents into submission with his strength alone.

Calem and the opponent he had beat both almost shit themselves when Tyrunt evolved and became the size of a small mountain. Ty was a force to be reckoned with, either in a head on fight or when he decided he wanted to play with Calem. Calem had a heart attack when the massive dragon/rock type charged at him happily when he evolved.

Angelus, or Angie for short, was his other dragon type and she slept quietly under the very earth Calem sat on. She was most comfortable sleeping underground since she was also part ground type. She was practically Ty's polar opposite and was found when Ty, while still a Tyrunt, kinda pissed off a Gible when he dug her up with his clawed feet. He beat her easily and they left afterwards, Calem not bothering in catching her. She followed them all across the sandy fields of Route 13.

Ty beat her every time but she still refused to leave and ended up demanding to join the team so she could get stronger to defeat Ty. She was a very serious Pokemon and put every ounce of her being into training, unlike Ty who usually thought of training as a big game. Angie was the first to evolve before Ty into a Gabite and she loved every second of it since she could beat Ty half the time. Then Ty evolved and Angie threw herself into training with more vigor than ever.

She use to be very detached from the rest of the team and only communicated with them during training but that changed after weeks on the road and she became very close to them all, especially Calem and Ty. Though she was still revivals with the big lovable lizard.

Then Calem felt a furry nudge in his side as Azure snuggled into him, the act making Calem smile sadly. Azure was the baby of the group, raised from an egg by everyone in the team excluding her late father Azule.

Azule was a strong and proud Lucario, kind and fatherly to the team as he helped them train while they were still young. He had joined them, leaving his old trainer Korrina in favor of joining Calem because the Lucario saw something in him. After a heated battle with Korrina with the help of his new friend and use of mega evolution they had left and the Lucario was happy at the victory over his brother with the help of Calem.

He had helped them rise through the ranks swiftly, helped the team push their boundaries, struck the final blow that made them the new Champions of the region.

...Then they met Looker.

Calem shook his head, not wanting to think about the death of his friend. It was partly the reason why Calem and his team were here training deep in the wilderness, Calem didn't want to face his colleagues that would no doubt search high and low for him when they caught wind. He just wanted to be alone with his team.

The training trip was actually planned before the unfortunate event. It was because the Region had grew boring; the league and gyms were conquered now, no trainers were able to put up a good fight and he had traveled to all the cities and practically knew their layout by heart. So Calem decided to finish the National Pokedex by going into the wilderness in search of Pokemon and train for a few months.

That was five years ago. After he had buried Azule at the Tower of Mastery with the gym leader and her fathers consent.

For a year, Calem and his team threw themselves into the vicious wilderness with reckless fervor. Taking the powerful wild Pokemon head on, every day a blur of blood and sweat and leveling the environment with uncontrolled power until nothing was left.

Then Azure was born.

She broke through the egg shell and emerged with a squeaky yawn. Their jaded hearts, hardened by the vicious wilderness and loss, softened as she looked upon the team in wide, red eyes, similar to her father's, as a little Riolu. Then she became the teams whole world, the baby of the group, and they all watched her like a Braviary.

They still trained but it was much more controlled and Calem finally began filling in his Pokedex entries with the Pokemon they had seen. They traveled and trained in the Northern tundras, harsh desserts and dark forests; all the while watching and teaching the little Riolu that grew and became the powerful Lucario she is today. Before they knew it five years passed by and Calem now sat here thinking about the past.

Scratching at his left wrist, Calem felt the tough, black leather strap that held his Holo Caster to his arm. Looking at the little device Calem poked at it curiously, "I wonder if you still work." The device held all kinds of applications that helped him on his journey, from telling the time and weather to arranging training regimes for his party Pokemon.

Poking the power button Calem watched the screen light up with a loading bar, "Huh, still has a charge."

Before Calem could do anything else, a holgram erupted from the screen in the form a newswoman sitting at a table, "What th-"

"Pokemon League Champion, and savior of the Kalos region has been reported missing today. After a few weeks, non of his friends, colleagues or family has seen any trace of the Champion and the League is calling out for the Champion to please report to them if he sees this message." With that the hologram ended.

...what?

The Screen erupted again to show the same newswoman, "A reward is now being offered to anyone that has any idea of the whereabouts of the Kalos Champion and we urge you to report to your nearest police station if you do have such information." The holoram ended once again only to revive immediately afterward.

"It has now been six months since the disappearance of the Champion and we now have a special guest that wishes to speak to see if she can reach out to her son." With that the camera moved to a very disheveled, teary eyed woman.

fuck

"Calem, I don't know if you can hear me, but please come home. I'm worried sick; You haven't called, or shown up anywhere and I'm terrified that something happened to you. Please, just give me a sign that your okay."

This continued on for a little while, all the broadcasts featuring news about the search for Calem among other things. Before long the reports stopped and there was no more information being said about him.

As the old news reports continued to play, Calem stared blankly ahead as his thoughts wandered toward his mother. He had left her with no indication of where he was or how long he'd be gone. Calem had truly forgotten all about her, he had traveled on his own with his Pokemon for months and he had never thought of ever calling his mother about where he was. He had so many things on his mind during that time like his own Pokemon's training, what Team Flare was up too, the Pokedex, the gyms and just trying to get by every day in the whatever forest or cave he found himself into.

He had neglected to actually call his mother during all of that. When she found out the he had stopped Team Flares plans for world destruction she chewed him out for hours about how stupid he was for not letting the police handle it. After that she hugged him and cried, whispering about how happy she was that he was okay and how proud she was.

God I'm an idiot, Calem thought while digging his fingers into his scalp angrily.

He was suddenly interrupted when the usual dull blue glow of the holograms light brightened with color and the hologram held a golden banner, "Hello Kalos region! Are you ready to have the most epic experience of your lives!"

Calem winced at the volume of the man's voice, the sound making his team stir, "Well then come to Lumiose City and either watch or compete in the Kalos region tournament where only the strong survive! The event will be held in the new Lumiose Arena in the west wing of the city, those who wish to compete will need to sign up before May and those who wish to watch we will have tickets available until May 5th, the day of the tournament!"

The banner flashed with the information as the man continued, "We hope to see you there!"

The golden banner continued to flash with red letters as the information stayed suspended in midair with the attention of all of his Pokemon focused on it excitedly, even Angie was able to hear the excited man's announcement and her head stuck up from the ground like a Diglet.

All heads turned to him with excited gleams in their eyes,"...No, NO, we are not going!"

They all grumbled pitifully and Azure whined as she looked at Calem pleadingly, "uh, um, come on guys I said no."

They didn't let up with the whines and looks, "I't's probably already over." Vlad materialized beside him, pointing down at the Holo Caster's date and time with his spectral claws; April 28, 11:24 p.m.

"But-but, but then we would have to leave tonight to be sure we can sign up!" Calem yelled incredulously.

They all happily nodded, which made Calem rub his temple tiredly, "Why do I put up with you guys?"

The Pokemon just laughed heartily at that and started moving around the camp excitedly. Though Calem was slightly peeved at there unanimous decision against him there were some things Calem had to do back in civilization. He had been skulking around in the wilderness long enough.

* * *

"uuum, is there something I can help you with," The pretty brunette working at the desk asked nervously to the trainer covered in dirt and scratches and with clothes that had seen better days.

Calem frowned at woman's tone, "Yeah, I'd like to sign up for the Lumiose City tournament."

Getting here had been easy enough, needing only some strategic teleporting on Rouge's part to travel quickly. They reached Lumiose City in the late morning and Calem spent the rest of the time trying to find the new arena in the familiar city. It took longer than expected but after following some signs he was finally able to find the large structure.

"Can I see your trainer ID then sir?"

Calem patted his pants pockets for a while, stopping to think before lifting up a finger, asking her to wake, as he pulled off his large green pack from his back. He had switched out from the small satchel he use to carry around before he had went into the wilderness, the thing being inadequate at holding all the supplies he bought for the trip.

Calem frowned as he continued to rifle through the contents of the pack. There was a time he was able to pull out whatever he was looking for at a seconds notice, he was a little rusty now.

Pulling out a small, leather bound case holding all his information and handed it to the woman. She grabbed the little case, flipping it open and eyeing its contents with a critical eye, "You look different from your picture."

"Yeah, its been a while," Calem said nervously, hoping the woman didn't recognize his old picture. Calem had no doubt that he wouldn't be recognize with how he looked now; older, taller and more mature looking than his chubby cheeked, ten year-old self. His old ID photo was a different story though.

The camera lens in the computer she sat with flashed, making Calem flinch and rub at his blinded eyes. The woman typed at the computer a while longer before giving an approving nod, "Alright your photo checks out."

At Calem's confused look she explained, "I ran a comparison on the computer with you and your ID. Sometimes we have people that aren't registered as trainers trying to use other people's IDs."

She continued typing away at the computer, "Okay, I have you signed up and registered Mr. Calem." She pulled out a pamphlet and handed it to him, "That has all the information about the Tournament. Be sure to be at the south entrance at 8:00 on May 1st."

"What, why? I thought it started on May 5th?"

"It does, but there are pre-rounds you need to win to actually get into the tournament. It's just a way to weed out weaker trainers so the tournament battles for the audience aren't boring."She said before lifting up his ID case and taking another look inside.

Calem gave a nod, "I guess that makes sense."

"Wait a minute," She whispered as she looked closer inside the case. Calem felt his blood freeze as she eyed his ID case even more critically, pleading to Arceus that she didn't recognize him in his old photo.

"These gym badges are old, they don't even use these designs anymore," she said in surprise. Picking up the Voltage badge in her slim fingers and admiring its golden shine in the light. "You even have all of the other old ones."

Calem inwardly sighed in relief, "I guess I've been out of the game longer than I thought."

Placing the badge back in place she handed Calem back his case, "Well hopefully your not too rusty, good luck Mr. Calem!"

Calem turned to leave but stopped when a thought struck him, "Do they call out our names during announcements in the tournament?"

"Yeah, but only if you get that far."

"Could I go under an alias, I don't feel comfortable with my name being yelled out with all those people."

She put a finger to her chin in thought, "I guess you can, some other people have. What do you want to be called?"

Calem gave it some thought, "Challenger."

She quirked a slim eyebrow at the name before turning to the computer and typing, "No one is under that name so its free to use."

"Odd name though," she mumbled to herself.

Calem gave a nod and a thanks before walking out of the large building to the nearest Pokemon Center, steering clear from all the people. It was weird to be in a city again, so use to the serene sounds and sights of the wilds. The constant roar of conversations and the shrill screech and honking of cars made him flinch and fidget. Calem felt a migraine rise in his brain from the noise and he couldn't take it anymore.

Plucking Rouge's ball from his belt Calem released her quickly, "Take me to the Pokemon center."

She gave a nod and lifted her wand from the folds of her fur before they disappeared from sight. Seconds later the two fazed into existence beside one of the three Pokemon Centers occupying Lumiose City, well, one of the four if he counted the new one he saw at Lumiose Arena. That one might as well been a hospital in itself with how large it was.

The doors slid open with a soft hiss and he walked in with a brisk pace with Rouge beside him, wanting to escape the mayhem outside that people called a city.

"Oh my goodness are you OK sir," A concerned voice called out from the front counter. He sure was being called 'sir' a lot.

Calem walked to the counter where a concerned nurse stood, waiting on his reply, "Yeah, just a little roughed up is all."

"Are you sure," she fussed.

Calem was thankful for her concern but got a little annoyed at the young woman, "Yes I'm fine."

She flinched at his tone but didn't say another word about it, "W-well, how can I help you then?"

"I just need a room for a couple of days"

"I apologize, but we have no more room. Were completely booked on account of the coming tournament," she said apologetically, hoping not to further upset the man in front of her.

Calem's frown deepened, making the woman fidget under his hard eyes, "Thanks anyway I guess."

He turned to his Delphox, "let's try another." With that the two vanished from sight, leaving a surprised nurse behind.

This continued on for a little while with them checking the rest of the Center's before giving up and setting up camp outside the Cities borders. He had the money to pay for a hotel, hell, he had made enough with his career as a trainer to buy one but it was all saved up and in his mother's possession. He didn't want to go home, not yet anyway. He wouldn't be able to be in the tournament in time if he confronted his mother now, that and it would be awful of him if he just showed up asking for money only to leave immediately afterwards.

So now Calem sat in the gardens of Route 4 with all his Pokemon surrounding him as he looked at the papers the woman gave him before. At the beginning of the month till the day before the actual tournament would be the pre-rounds he was told about. Then the actual tournament will be two to three days of fighting through the semi-finals. The Finals would be the last day.

It looked really flashy, with pictures of fierce looking Pokemon and photos of the battlefield he would no doubt fight on. Calem snorted at the supposedly 'fierce' expressions the Pokemon wore, It was clearly fake. He had seen real anger and fury before, this was not it.

There was a wet plop to the side of him and Calem looked up from his papers. A small pile of bloody Zigzagoons and a Skitty lay lifeless on the ground with a victorious looking Garchomp standing over them. "I see that you caught our meal."

Unsheathing a knife from his boot, Calem pulled one of the bodies over and began cutting away the fur and skin. He had once been completely against the thought of eating Pokemon, that naivety dissolved away during his five year absence when they ran out of food.

Pulling the bloody skin off the Zigzaggon, he handed it to Angie for her to eat. She could have ate it hair and all but she preferred it skinned and grew a little spoiled, the whole team did. Not counting Vlad, who could just wait till night and gorge himself on everyone's dreams.

Calem laid out the fur on the ground to the side when he heard a woman scream and a guy yell, "HEY, what do you think your doing!"

Annoyed at the sudden intrusion, Calem turned to see two rangers in their red garb. One was a boy with dark skin, his black hair short and trimmed. The other was a girl with long blonde hair kept in place with the red cap emblazoned with the symbol of the rangers. She wore a look of terror as she stared at the pile of dead Pokemon while the boy stared him down with angry eyes. They were both young, being only ten if he made a rough guess.

Calem sized up the young rangers, "I didn't know the rangers started recruiting kids."

"Don't call me kid and answer the question!"

"I'm cooking, brat," Calem growled.

The kid pulled out a pokeball and released a little Ralts in a flash of red, "Your under arrest for the abuse of Pokemon!"

"I didn't know feeding my Pokemon was considered abuse," Calem replied dryly. "And can you stop yelling?"

walking forward, he left the terrified girl's side to face Calem, "Come peacefully or I'll-" Calem cut in, "Or you'll what, kid?"

Looking around him, the young ranger finally took notice of the powerful Pokemon towering over him, all of which were looking at the kid with bored and agitated expressions at his disturbance of their dinner.

"I've had a long day so I would appreciate it if you'd just walk away," the flower garden was filled with the agreeing growls of his Pokemon.


End file.
